Terminal Velocity
by Omnicat
Summary: Sieghilde Balig Schbeiker - "Hilde to anyone but the tax registry" - had always been a troublemaker. / character study, set somewhere between episodes 25 and 32


**Title:** Terminal Velocity

**Author:** Omnicat

**Spoilers & Desirable Foreknowledge:** Up to episode 23 of the anime, at the very least, but ep 25 or 32 preferred.

**Warnings:** None.

**Characters & Pairings:** Duo and Hilde.

**Summary:** Sieghilde Balig Schbeiker ("Hilde to anyone but the tax registry") had always been a troublemaker. / character study, set somewhere between episodes 25 and 32

**Author's Note:** Enjoy!

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**Terminal Velocity**

Sieghilde Balig Schbeiker ("Hilde to anyone but the tax registry") had always been a troublemaker. She liked to enjoy the good things in life, and it wasn't that she went out looking for trouble, she explained a little defensively, as if she'd argued about this countless times before; there was just so much going on around her to get worked up about, it was impossible for her not to get involved.

"That's not fair!" had been her trademark introduction since early childhood, and having grown up in a heavily suppressed colony, it hadn't taken long for it to start meaning more than just "I don't like this, things are supposed to go _my_ way.". While most kids grew out of it as they became more aware of their surroundings and realised that they were not the center of the universe, becoming careful not to cause a disruption in the fragile balance the colonists kept with the deadly forces behind the boundaries of their artificial habitat, Hilde had found her anger and indignation redirect itself towards _real_ injustices as she got older.

Nowadays it frustrated her that not more people stood up for themselves in the face of the military occupation. Yeah, life in space was tricky, and one misfired missile could mean the death of an entire colony. But the colonists had worked so hard to be able to make it possible for them to live in this place; were they going to just let their home and the freedom they had created for themselves here slip through their fingers because Earthborn soldiers couldn't understand how fragile and precious life in outer space was?

It may be hard for him to understand, having been on Earth for so many months, but that was why she had joined OZ: they had broken the iron grip the Alliance had had on outer space and rekindled the fire in the people of the colonies, the determination and perseverence that had brought them where they were today. OZ really seemed to be setting things right... They drove away the usurpers and showed the colonists what had gone wrong, what could be done to fix it and how to prevent it from happening again. They had pointed out the enemy and offered themselves as an ally.

OZ had offered solutions to all the wrongs Hilde had never been able to set right. If those causes seemed a little bloody, well... it wasn't like her more civil previous attempts had paid off so far.

But then a gundam pilot had showed up, an 'enemy' claiming to fight for the same thing as her, and she realised what had happened to her and the colonies. How OZ had played their minds, twisting their views until they took up arms against the very people who had stood up for them.

That gundam pilot had made her remember that before OZ came along, she never even _thought_ in terms of 'enemy' and 'ally'._ Things that happened_ could be unfair, people... were just people. People's actions may fall in a 'fair' or 'unfair' category at times, at heart they were all the same. Like the gundam pilot had said, all people could do was walk the path they chose; if they didn't always agree with other travellers about the route, that didn't mean either of those routes were inherently _right_ and the others _wrong_.

OZ was manipulating people by playing on their needs and fears and over-simplifying things, and it wasn't doing anyone any good. Even if she hadn't been dishonorably discharged, she couldn't have stayed with them; that was the kind of thing she had always made a ruckus about.

Duo was silent throughout Hilde's monologue, sitting at her kitchen table tersely while she went about preparing dinner for the two of them. He didn't notice how much her words had soothed him until she turned around upon mentioning him, a plate in each hand, and he shot up from his relaxed sprawl as if stung.

"I was thirteen when my parents died." Hilde went on to say, digging into her food as if they were discussing nothing more exiting or meaningful than the weather forecast. "They ran a small business from this house. I didn't used to be able to handle it all on my own, and I sold almost everything when I enlisted with OZ, but maybe with your help I could build something up again. And since my skills as a soldier obviously won't do the trick without an MS, I want to find another way to fight for the colonies. I was thinking you could help me with that - or rather, that _I_ could help _you_. I could make some use of myself again and you'd have a roof above your head, three meals a day, human company and an second opinion or insider's knowledge of how OZ goes about their business around here when you need it... What do you say?"

"This steak is delicious." was what he said. It was the only thing he could wring from his constricted throat without sounding like he was about to break down.

Not that he wasn't. Returning to space hadn't exactly been a victory march. Attention wasn't what he was after as a gundam pilot, and maybe he could even do without recognition, as long as he could inspire the people of the colonies and make them smile again. But being branded a traitor and getting hunted down by the people he tried to protect had been an unexpectedly harsh blow. And that wasn't even _counting_ being imprisoned and used as a guinea pig for weeks on end.

But then - and he didn't like to copy someone else's lines, but he couldn't think of anything more fitting himself - Hilde had shown up, an 'enemy' claiming to fight for the same thing as him, and he realised that it was still too early to despair. As long as there were people like her, who invited hungry travellers to dinner in spite of their history and never gave up fighting the good fight, no matter how powerless they were compared to the big guys, there was no way he could give up.

Maybe he should stick with her for a while.

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**PSAN:** I'm glad I've deviced something of a background for Hilde now. Should make writing her in longer fics a lot easier.

Legend

Hilde = from _hild_, 'battle', comes down to something like 'battle-ready'

Balig = fiery/fierce warrior

Sieghilde = victorious in battle

And yes, those are all female names. :) The ancient roots of germanic names have always fascinated me, I can't believe I never thought to look up Hilde before. And now I'm wondering if her naming was intentional...


End file.
